62 
FRAGILITY OF THE BONES IN CATTLE, IN THE 
PROVINCE OF HESSE. 
By Herr Willand, V.S., of Worrstadt . 
Since this disease first appeared, or, rather, was first recorded 
in Hesse, it has gradually increased to so dreadful an extent, that 
the government has found it necessary to turn its attention to it, 
and has prevailed on several scientific and practical farmers to 
transmit some satisfactory account of it. It will, doubtless, be 
interesting to peruse some of these different details ; I therefore, 
says Advocate Bopp, of Darmstadt, send you the following collec- 
tion of them : — 
In numbers 44 and 47 of “ The Agricultural Journal” for the 
Grand Duchy of Hesse, are contributions from Herr Willand, 
veterinary surgeon at Worrstadt, in the province of Hesse, rela- 
tive to this disease in cattle. 
So many instances of the prevalence of this disease among 
cattle having prevailed through the whole province of Hesse, I 
was commissioned by government (says Herr Willand) to travel 
through the cantons of Allzei, Worrstadt, Wollstein, and Oppen- 
heim, in order to observe the symptoms of the malady and the 
methods of cure employed. I found in the course of my journey 
eighty- two patients suffering from brittleness of the bones, and of 
these fifty-six were destroyed. 
According to my promise to those by whom I was employed, 
I shall describe the disease which prevailed in these cantons in 
1833, and previously, in the year 1830, and shall add to this 
description my opinion as to the prevention and cure of it. 
Fragilitas ossium in cattle is a lingering disease, originating 
from some altered state of the circulating fluid. It has some simi- 
milarity to the effects of old age, and may be known by the gra- 
dual wasting away of the frame, and the weakening and brittleness 
of the bones, which latter at length, and without any external 
mechanical force or cause, are suddenly snapped asunder by the 
mere weight of the body. 
Early in the month of May, 1830, when this disease prevailed 
at Dexheim, I had many opportunities of observing it. 
In the commencement of the complaint, I always found that the 
animal was lame of one foot, and by this I was frequently deceived, 
for I attributed this lameness to some external or mechanical 
cause ; but it always increased, and gradually established itself in 
all four feet, and the animal could then scarcely stand. In general, 
